Selected quad for the lemma: nature_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
nature_n	person_n	trinity_n	union_n	3,745	5	9.6541	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A77990	Jacobs seed or The generation of seekers. And Davids delight : or The excellent on earth. / By the late reverend preacher of the Gospel Jeremiah Burrough.	Burroughs, Jeremiah, 1599-1646.	1648 (1648)	Wing B6090; Thomason E1162_1; ESTC R210094	70,993	190

God in the hypostaticall union of the two natures wherein he joyned the humane and the divine nature together in one person excepting that the worke of grace in any soul is the greatest work that ever God did from all eternity or that ever he will do for the kind of it Now that which hath so much of God in it and comes from the eternall election and love of God and is the greatest work that ever was done or ever shall be done and the greatest good that ever was or shall be communicated to any creature for ever truly this must needs be the greatest excellency For God made the world for that end that he might communicate his excellency and glory to the world to the creature Now that which was the greatest thing that God intended from all eternity for the communicating of all his glory it must needs make the creature excellent That is the first thing they are the excellent on earth in regard of the image of God upon them the work of grace But secondly tkey are the excellent of the earth in regard of the seperating of them for God they are those that God set his thoughts upon from all eternity that they might enjoy him The great counsels that God wrought from all eternity especially were set on work upon this great thing of separating of certain creatures for himself from the rest of the world Now when God shall set as it were to speak after the manner of men his thoughts and counsels on work from all eternity to set apart a few creatures for himself if there can be known who they are certainly we cannot but look on them as the excellent on earth Now wheresoever we see the work of grace in any we may by that know that these God hath separated for himself as setting his infinite wisedome on work from all eternity above that That was the thing he was most excercised in before the world about the work of separating such and such for himself The Psalmist saith Psalm 4.3 that God hath set apart the godly for himself they are those that are dedicated and consecrated to God therefore there is a wonderfull excellency put upon them As you know any thing that is dedicated and consecrated though it be never so mean in it self yet being once dedicated being once made a consecrated thing there is a great deal of excellency put upon that thing As in the law if it were but a piece of wood in the Tabernacle if it were but a Badgers skin if it were but brasse or Goats hair or any such thing that were meant in it self yet if it were once consecrated and made holy to God they looked upon it as having a great deal of excellency on it Now I reason thus if a piece of wood or a little hair or leather consecrated to God had an excellency what then hath an immortall soul that hath the graces of the spirit as so many pearls in it when that is consecrated and set apart to God to the glory and praise of his grace to all eternity here must needs be much excellency When a thing is consecrated we look on it no more according to the quality of the thing but to the consecration As I remember I read of some people in India that when they have but lost an Apes tooth that was consecrated to their god they will give an unspeakable summe of money for the redemption of it again because it was a thing that was consecrated to their god So I reade of another that being raised from a mean birth he took this way to make himself to be highly esteemed of the people he had a golden bason that he used to wash his feet in he took that and made an idoll of it and consecrated it and then every one fell down and worshiped it when it was consecrated Nay saith he if this which was mean before it was set apart to this use comes so to be honoured then I that am mean by birth being set apart to the government may as well be honoured by you Thus then if the superstition and will of man having consecrated a thing thinks he puts so much excellency on it how much more when God himself and the great and speciall work of the holy Ghost that he is designed to it is a speciall work of his office to consecrate souls to God and to set them apart to himself what an excellency must this needs be that is put upon them They are the excellent of the earth That is the second Thirdly if we consider that relation that the saints have to God they are the nearest relations that can be exprest Of children to parents they are the children of God Of a spouse to her husband they are the spouse of Jesus Christ the second person in Trinity and in that regard they are more nearly united to God then the Angels themselves are in being the spouse of the Son of God yea the very members of his body they have a nearer relation in that respect to the divine nature to the second person in Trinity then the Angels themselves for they have not such a relation as this therefore they are the excellent of the earth Again fourthly if we consider the great priviledges that the saints have we shall see them the excellent of the earth Not to speak of their deliverance from sin and guiltinesse and those immunities that they have from others But consider they have this priviledge that God in all his attributes and works he is continually working for their good There is this excellent prerogative of the saints there is no attribute of God but it is continually working good to every saint of God There is no work of Gods providence but it works alway continually for their good It would be a mighty excellent honour put upon any man if but such an honourable assembly as the Parliament should take thought for such an one and all their purposes and plots and councels all the time they are sitting should tend to the good of such an one in particular taking notice in particular of him It is that which I said all your wisdome and power and mercy and faithfulnesse and the infinite alsufficiency of God is continually every moment working not onely for the good of those that love God in generall but for every particular saint of God God takes speciall notice of them and sets all his attributes continually on work for their good And the heavens continually work for them They have this priviledge that the whole world is made for them God hath given them the world they are the heirs of the world as it is said of Abraham he was the heir of the world Rom. 4.14 Abraham had little himself yet he had the world Now the children inherit their fathers estate if the world were Abrahams inheritance then it is the inheritance of every child of Abraham for so the children of Abraham are

with that Angel of God John Bradford meaning him in particular And another that professed that he had rather be with Cato a heathen for his morall excellencies in prison then with Cesar in the Senate in all his pomp To be shut up with one godly man is a great deal of delight and contentment what a great deal of delight is there then in their being together and in that way wherein most of their excellencies appear such delight is in them joyntly First because the most comfortable communion that possible can be is enjoyed with them and in them for First is it not a most delightfull thing to see a company of godly people together to behold the resplendent beauty and glory of the graces of Gods spirit If there were nothing else what a delightfull thing is it saith the heart The very sight of good men it is pleasing and delightfull to those that look upon their faces wisdome makes their faces shine The seeing of the resplendent grace of God in them is very delightfull What is the delight of God but the seeing of the shining of his glory in his works especially when God sees that which is the shining of his highest glory as his own grace and holinesse that God delights in most So when a gracious heart sees his own image and that grace that God hath wrought in him he sees it resplendently in others it is a delightfull object Again there is a comfortable communion with them in regard of the fragrancie of grace The beauty of grace is delightfull but the fragrancie the breathings of grace are sweet in the heart The beholding of it is delightfull to the eye but the workings of their grace is exceeding sweet and comfortable to the heart Therefore saith the Church Let my beloved go down into the gardens among the beds of spices Cant. 6.2 All the Churches of God in the world are as the garden of Christ and every particular Church in that garden is as a bed of spices and every particular saint is as the severall parts of that bed especially the fragrant smell is very sweet It is said of Alexander his very body was of such a constitution that where ever he went there was a sweet savour came from his body Certainly where there is but one of Gods Children there it sweetnesse from him but where there is a company joyntly there is a wonderfull unspeakaable sweetnesse comes from them it is exceeding comfortable to a gracious hear Again their communion is comfortable and delightfull joyntly in regard of the nearnesse there being no communion under heaven wherein there is that nearnesse one to another as of the saints Observe that you may see how near they come together and are made one and so are exceeding delightfull one to another any thing the more spirituall they are the more they are united the more corporall they are the lesse union A heap of stones are not united as the severall beams of the sunne a thousand of them are united in one point because they are of a spirituall nature So it is with the spirits of men the more carnall any men and any society is the lesse union therefore the reason why the people of God many times are divided and not united is because they are carnall Are ye not carnall saith the Apostle when there were divisions were you spirituall you would be more united one to another It is with spirituall society in regard of spirtuall union as it is with the soci●ty of wickednesse There is bodily fleshly wickednesse and there is spirituall wickednesse Now those that joys together in grosse bodily wickednesse they are not so closely united as those that joyn in spirituall wickednesse A companion of drunkards or whoremongers they take delight in one another and joyn in wickednesse but it is corporall therefore they soon fall out and fly in the faces one of another but those that joyn in spirituall wickednesse as politick ambitious men men that joyn in mischief in a spirituall way they keep mighty close and you cannot break their bond of union they will suffer much before they will discover one another and break union one with another because their union is in a way of spirituall wickednesse So on the contrary when any are united in the spirit of holinesse they are mightily united there is no such union under heaven is that We read of the curtains of the Tabernacle Exod. 26. there were some of them that were made of purple and scarlet and fine linen and their taches that held them together were pure gold There were others of goats hair and their buckles were brasse So it may set our the different condition of men in the Church There are some in the Church that are truly gracious and godly that excell in grace and they are united by tacks of gold their union is mighty strong and glorious in their hearts There are others in the Church outward professours that are carnall that are goats hair goats in the Church and they maintain a union too but it is but brasse the ground and bottome of the union is but mean it is not such a golden union as the union of the hearts of Gods people there are no people under heaven so united as they It is true through their corruption there is a great deal of dissention as there is corruption in the best but that is as farre as they are carnall the more spirituall they grow the more near is their union one to another and the more entire is their love My beloved is one saith Christ to his Church and the daughters saw her and blessed her There is an onenesse and intirenesse in the hearts of the saints and this makes them to be blessed by those that behold them and makes their communion very delightfull That is the first particular their communion is most delightfull of all other communions therefore David saith all my delight is in them taking them together But then in the second place a gracious heart must needs delight in the saints if you take them joyntly because that when they are together there God is worshiped the solemnest worship that God hath is from the faints joyned together As I told you before that the glory that God had in the world was from them all but the solemnity of Gods worship cannot be but from them joyntly together Therefore the great delight of a gracious heart is to be with the saints when they are joyntly together because there the name of God is honoured and they worship God in a solemne way God is honoured among them Christ himself much delights in the Saints when they are joyned together in in the duties of holy worship do but compare two texts of Scripture that will both make us in love with the saints and delight in joynt communion with them Compare Psalm 22.22 with Heb. 2.12 The Psalme is a prophesie of Christ and generally all interpreters go this